(What strikes me most is that the effect of the sun on our climate is downplayed or ignored by the climate alarmists, those trying to grab more power and money with the warming ruse, and one has look deeply to find this simple truth.)

NASA Sees Climate Cooling Trend Thanks to Low Sun Activity The climate alarmists just can’t catch a break. NASA is reporting that the sun is entering one of the deepest Solar Minima of the Space Age; and Earth’s atmosphere is responding in kind.

So, start pumping out that CO2, everyone. We’re going to need all the greenhouse gases we can get.

“We see a cooling trend,” said Martin Mlynczak of NASA’s Langley Research Center. “High above Earth’s surface, near the edge of space, our atmosphere is losing heat energy. If current trends continue, it could soon set a Space Age record for cold.”

The new data is coming from NASA’s Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry or SABER instrument, which is onboard the space agency’s Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. SABER monitors infrared radiation from carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitric oxide (NO), two substances that play a vital role in the energy output of our thermosphere, the very top level of our atmosphere.

“The thermosphere always cools off during Solar Minimum. It’s one of the most important ways the solar cycle affects our planet,” said Mlynczak, who is the associate principal investigator for SABER.

Who knew that that big yellow ball of light in the sky had such a big influence on our climate?

There’s a bit of good news in all of this. When the thermosphere cools, it literally shrinks, therefore reducing aerodynamic drag on satellites in low Earth orbit. In effect, the shrinking thermosphere increases a satellite’s lifetime.

But that appears to be where the good news ends, unless you prefer cold weather and increased space junk. “The bad news,” according to Dr. Tony Phillips, editor of spaceweather.com, is: “It also delays the natural decay of space junk, resulting in a more cluttered environment around Earth.”

Mlynczak and his colleagues have created the Thermosphere Climate Index (TCI), which measures how much NO is dumped from the Thermosphere into outer space. During Solar Maximum the TCI number is very high. At times of Solar Minimum, TCI is low.

“Right now, (TCI) is very low indeed,” said Mlynczak. “SABER is currently measuring 33 billion Watts of infrared power from NO. That’s ten times smaller than we see during more active phases of the solar cycle."

SABER has been in orbit for only 17 years, but Mlynczak and the scientists at NASA’s Langley Research Center have been able to recreate TCI measurements back to the 1940s. “SABER taught us how to do this by revealing how TCI depends on other variables such as geomagnetic activity and the sun’s UV output — things that have been measured for decades,” said Mlynczak.

In fact, TCI numbers now, in the closing months of 2018, are very close to setting record lows since measurements began. “We’re not quite there yet,” Mlynczak reports. “but it could happen in a matter of months.”

The new NASA findings are in line with studies released by UC-San Diego and Northumbria University in Great Britain last year, both of which predict a Grand Solar Minimum in coming decades due to low sunspot activity. Both studies predicted sun activity similar to the Maunder Minimum of the mid-17th to early 18th centuries, which coincided to a time known as the Little Ice Age, during which temperatures were much lower than those of today.

If all of this seems as if NASA is contradicting itself, you’re right — sort of. After all, NASA also reported last week that Arctic sea ice was at its sixth lowest level since measuring began. Isn’t that a sure sign of global warming?

All any of this “proves” is that we have, at best, a cursory understanding of Earth’s incredibly complex climate system. So when mainstream media and carbon-credit salesman Al Gore breathlessly warn you that we must do something about climate change, it’s all right to step back, take a deep breath, and realize that we don’t have the knowledge, skill or resources to have much effect on the Earth’s climate. God — and that big yellow ball of light in the sky — have much more impact on our climate than we ever could."

Ah yes, only God can affect climate. Humans have no effect on our environment...said no one with half a brain.

Post something from a credible peer reviewed scientific paper if you want to discuss this instead of some pos from an opinion guy for a right-wing publication. There are some science papers out there that discuss issues with climate models if you look. That’s worth discussing.

Seriously Spike. If you truly want to know if it’s possible that climate change is happening why don’t you read some science publication on the subject? Science really does matter. If you search right-wing opinion sites you will find what you are looking for but that does not discount the true scientific methods and evidence.

Hey Pig Does, Spike’s first statements in the OP were about climate change and his article was his “evidence.” The article he posted discussed climate change. Hijack? Isn’t the CF a discussion/debate forum? Maybe u missed that part. Regardless it’s right wing propaganda as usual. Not science.

AGW has been discussed here ad nauseam for at least 10 years. Liberals say it's gospel, conservatives say it's bunk. The reruns are getting old. Spike posts something interesting and believable (for a change) and you turn it right back into AGW. Of course you have the right to do that, and I have the right to call you out for hijacking a thread about solar minimum and turning it into AGW. Man may have a role in climate change. It's not proven. Solar cycles are proven to affect climate.

"Spike posts something interesting and believable (for a change)" that's funny right there. I agree too.....I like the solar minimum idea. Hope it works...maybe my grand kids, if I ever have any, will be ok after all.

Yes we have had lengthy and indepth discussions here, much information was shared and discussed at levels most here were barely able to fathom and the evidence for anything other than tiny influence from humans was overwhelming.

HOWEVER, even then that was mostly all a discussion of the veracity, actual content, and meaning of the information used widely by the AGW crew. My belief is that solar influence is astronomically YUGE compared to the human factor AND that is has been systematically suppressed by the AGW crowd as it ruins their plans to fleece and manipulate the population.

AS the single largest factor, solar influence deserves it's due. This quiet period may force the issue.

Point taken Pig Doc and Spike. I agree with your points on the last threads. I too think climate change is ad nauseam on the CF too. However, I just don't think left or right opinion twisting science is a good source and I thought this thread was going there. We get too much of that in our daily lives from MSNBC, Fox News, Brietbart, NYT, etc. IMO. Apologies if this was supposed to be a discussion about solar minimums. Carry on.

You never hear or see any solar influence in the apocalyptic predictions and models put out by the Church of AlGore. It's all co2, all the time. Reports recently came out how US co2 emissions have dropped yet more and lead the world in reducing emissions. "Between 2005 and 2017, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions fell by 12.4 percent on an absolute basis and by 19.9 percent on a per capita basis." No high fives or nothing from the AlGorians and the left..... imagine that. Paris Accords? Why? We lead the world in reduced emissions, we don't need any UN agreements to do so. Easy to see why they want us back in the PA...... the "why" involves money, They want ours.

When the Church of AlGore opens up to honest debate from all sides, then we might make some real scientific insight, or at least better insight. Or maybe just acknowledge we don't really have much of a handle on the when and why. When the Mann studies and UN studies come out and found to be intentionally manipulated (lied) and data hidden that would have changed their reports..... reports NOT put out for peer review. Opposing scientists banned from conferences, the world should have quit listening to them. It's like PutZ making an argument..... proven time and time again willing to lie and manipulate for the "cause". Less than worthless.

And the picture in the article listed above is a lie. Shows two red and white stacks with nothing visible coming out of them, and then next to the two stacks there is another with white billowing clouds coming out and that is labeled as pollution. The white billowing clouds are coming off the cooling towers, where the water heated to steam to power the turbines is cooled and recycled.

Actually, they are correct. What you're seeing there is what USED to go up those big chimneys on the right, but is now re-routed through the scrubbers. While it LOOKS like a bunch of pollution, it's mainly water vapor. We have a very similar situation very near where I live.

They don't have cooling towers at the facility in the photo (At least from looking at it in aerial photos), but the cooling water is most likely simply dumped back into the Potomac. On the aerial photos, you can see the maze of ductwork connecting the base of the old chimneys to the new scrubber.